


Save the One, Save the All

by PorcelainBlack



Series: The Highest Cost [1]
Category: Shaman King
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2015-07-02
Updated: 2015-07-02
Packaged: 2018-04-07 08:10:55
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,136
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4255950
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/PorcelainBlack/pseuds/PorcelainBlack
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Fate brought her to the tournament, faith and friendship are going to see her through to the end. Karline's path is blocked by death and torment, caught in grasp of Hao and his followers, as she fights to save the lives of her friends as well as herself. Asakura Hao/Reader</p>
            </blockquote>





	Save the One, Save the All

**Author's Note:**

> Warnings: There will be some course language and slight adult situations in the beginning of this story. I apologize for anything that may seem obscene to the reader, and I hope you enjoy.
> 
> I've had this story on my laptop for quite sometime, and I really enjoy Shaman King a lot so I decided to go ahead and post this. If the beginning is a bit hard to follow I apologize. The story will get better.

The bus arrives at the base earlier than expected. I was certain we’d be late, and now because of it, I’m several Euro short.

Heidi gives me a grin as she collects, shoving the coins into the pocket of her faded duster. She’s beaming as usual. I expect as much. She’s easy to excite, almost as if she was born to fight and nothing more. I watch her finger the feathered cuff on her right ear, a habit she picked up when she gets annoyed. I can understand why. The line is steadily moving.

Once it’s our turn to exit, I look over my shoulder to see Mariel near the back. She’s talking with a tall boy in front of her, a look of wonder in her eyes. I smile gently and follow close behind the young shaman in front of me. The scenery is still the same. I can see miles of busy highway as I step out onto the curb. I barely notice the small shops nestled behind me, hidden between expensive new buildings. It sure beats the smell of sweat and service store lunches though.

Up ahead is the entrance. There are a few contestants blocking the front gate, each staring with wonder at whatever is inside. They make no attempt to enter as a crowd begins to form behind them. A sense of dread quickly spreads amongst them. I feel it too, so thick that I find it hard to breathe.

“They’ve hit the wall it seems,” says a voice beside me.

I glance at Mariel and notice her shiver, watching the few shaman with a look of sadness. She is more attune to other’s emotions. I believe Heidi refers to her as an Empath. It’s quite sad to watch her go from happy to gloomy in the blink of an eye.

“It can happen to anyone, even us,” I remind her. “Everyone here has trained hard for this. Somewhere along the way people are likely to give up on their dream. It is better they give now then fold in battle.” 

She agrees with a quick nod, “Heidi would say the same.”

I know it’s not the humane way to deal with the situation, but she has to realize everyone gathering at the base are shaman. Eventually we will have to deal with them. I scoff at the thought, but I knew no of this would be easy.

“Once I become Shaman King none of this will matter,” I assure her.

“I know,” she says quietly. “Still, I wish for so much more. I hope their hearts are strong enough for this.”

“It won’t be your fault if they fail,” I retort with a sigh.

I see she’s about to say something, but the crowd begins to disperse and her eyes widen in delight. The boy from the bus is standing just inside the gate, waving her over. He’s in a party of three other shaman, each just as carefree as himself. It’s no wonder Mariel is attracted to them. She sends a glance at me and I nod, watching her smile and jog toward them. They disappear into the base moments after.

“She is going to end up lost again,” I hear Heidi say as she joins me with our bags in tow.

“More than likely,” I agree. “She’s with good company though.”

Heidi sends me a worried glance, but shrugs it off. She’s not one to question my judgement unlike Mariel.

“You know, it’s safe to bring him out now. We’re not under the watch of normal people anymore,” she says, changing the subject.

I had almost forgotten. I feel ignorant for failing to remember my guardian ghost. It’s rare to see me without him, but considering we traveled a great distance to Japan from Germany under the watch of humans, I locked his medium inside my carry on. I imagine the humans wouldn’t understand why a grown girl would carry around a puppet, much less talk to it. The children at the orphanage never could understand either.

“I don’t see the loud mouths running about,” I say, slipping my bag off the dolly.

Heidi laughs, running her fingers over the cuff around her ear. “They are unusually quiet today. I can’t ever seem to get them to stop squawking my ear off.”

“Maybe they ran out of things to say,” I laugh.

“Maybe something has them spooked,” she says in a whisper.

I frown and slip my puppet from the bag. Come to think about it, he hasn’t left his medium either. He stares up at me, the bells on his hat tinkering as his face spins to a look of anger. It’s obvious why he’s mad. I’ve kept him locked away the entire trip.

“Till, you know I couldn’t take you out,” I say to him.

He doesn’t budge. 

I roll my eyes, “If you’re going to pout, I can put you right back in the bag.”

This time his face spins to a look of surprise. I can’t help but laugh. He’s so dramatic. My father made his medium so he could express emotion. Till’s face is cut into three portions, so that it can spin in a horizontal motion. He has five looks; happy, surprised, sad, angry, and devious. I’m lucky to have only seen four of them.

Still, it’s strange to not to see him out of the puppet. In his former life, he was a jester, and since I’ve known him, he hasn’t missed a chance to mock me in spirit form. It’s the only way he can talk to me. It confounds me.

“We’ve dallied enough,” Heidi says. “I think we should go in.”

“You’re right,” I agree with a frown.

I hold Till close, steering my luggage through the front gate. A gasp slips pass my lips. The base is crowded with participants. Market stalls line the yard, spreading further into the base than I can see. There are more shaman here than I had expected.

Somehow I thought this would be easy. A battle here and there, but nothing like this. It was as if I was about to single handedly take on an endless abyss. I don’t remember seeing this many people at the opening ceremony, but that may be because I was sitting against the back wall like an autist. Heidi gives me trouble for it, saying I’m never going to make friends by blending in, but I kind of like being a loner. I’m not like my teammates.

Heidi is so hard-headed at times. She never listens to me. Not even the time the kids at the orphanage stole Till from my room, and broke him. I wanted to tell the nuns, but Heidi raced in and saved him, earning a beating in the process. We couldn’t fix him properly, so he’s unable to move, aside from the three portions of his face which tend to stick sometimes. I remember crying like a baby for weeks, but Mariel eased me through the ordeal.

She was at my side even before I met Heidi. Back before I learned to use an Over Soul for the first time. I disliked her cheery attitude at first. I shoved her away, shouted and threatened her, but Mariel just smiled. She had been through so much, the death of her brother, the abandonment of her family. I was selfish to think I was the only one in pain after my parents were murdered. It’s because of Mariel that I am calm.

It’s why without them; stubborn Heidi and fearless Mariel, I would have fallen to darkness. I push back the ache in my throat and the prickle of tears in my eyes, adjusting Till in my arms. His head spins and a somber expression darkens his face. I reassure him by hugging him closer.

“Do you think we can expect to see Rutherfor here?”

Heidi steps in sync with me, but her eyes are scanning the crowd. I watch her raise a brow and grit her teeth as if she’s annoyed. “I just wanted to see her one last time, before we go into the tournament.”

“Nothing is for certain, but I hope.” 

I mean what I say, hoping my words can assure her. To be honest, I feel annoyed we haven’t heard from her since the opening ceremony. She left without saying a word to us. No goodbye, no good luck. I sigh and glance at the Oracle Pager on my right arm. Heidi wears hers hooked to her belt loop, swaying proudly for everyone to see.

“I want to see her too,” I say in a whisper. “We didn’t get to thank her the last time we met.”

Heidi grins, “Yeah, but the next time we meet I won’t be taken down so easily.”

I agree, despite my face feeling warm. If I remember correctly, Heidi and I were defeated so easily. It was embarrassing.

“I found you,” I hear a voice shout.

Mariel skips up to us, her light blue hair bobbing as she sways back and forth in a childlike manner. She’s without the party of shaman she ran off with. I notice she is wearing charms pinned to her dress top, small hand crafted totems and cross-stitched weaves made by the Patch tribe. It looks like a market stall threw up on her.

“I think you went a little overboard,” I mention quietly.

“The vender said one would give me luck,” she says with a laugh. “So I bought them all.”

Heidi rolls her eyes, “Those cheap knock-offs won’t give you any luck. You basically wasted your money buying them.”

I hate to agree with her, but she’s right. Mariel is such a sucker for mementos. They’ll just end up discarded once she loses her interest in them.

“That’s not true. The vender told me with all this luck, I’m destined for great things,” she argues back.

“No way,” Heidi shouts. “He ripped you off. Show me where you bought those miserable things. I’m demanding a refund.”

She grabs the girl by the hand and paces off in the direction from which Mariel came from, bumping into a small, dark skinned child in her wake. The child teeters and falls to the ground with a thump as Heidi and Mariel march pass, and become lost in a sea of contestants.

I gasp and rush to help the child up. People walk by like nothing ever happened. It’s a wonder she wasn’t stepped on, because she is so small, wearing a long sleeved red and white jacket and standing just above my knee.

“Are you okay?”

“Opacho thinks so,” she replies in a soft voice.

I assume Opacho is her name.

“I’m Karline,” I hesitantly say, bending to my knee.

She acts skittish, backing away just enough to put distance between us. Her eyes tear up and she looks from side to side as if she’s missing something.

“Opacho is lost,” she utters sadly.

I’m at a loss at what to say. My throat clinches tightly. She’s only a child, and yet I can’t find the words to comfort her. I look around, hoping to find an official or someone to help the child but everyone blends with one another. I know leaving her alone would be the wrong thing to do, so I have to find a way to get her to trust me. It’s the only way to help her find who she is looking for. 

“It’s okay to be sad,” I say. “I lost my team as well.”

“Opacho must go back,” she whispers to herself.

“If you tell me where you last saw your team, maybe I can help you find them,” I tell her.

She goes quiet, watching me intently. It’s as if she’s trying to analyze me. I do my best to keep calm, a hundred thoughts racing through my head. Then at once, she smiles and waddles over to me, lying a hand flat on Till’s chest. He clatters loudly and spins his head to show a cheery smile.

“Do you like him?”

She nods, “This is Karline’s guardian ghost?”

“Yes,” I agree. “He was given to me by my father. Till is very special to me.”

“Till is someone Karline wishes to protect?”

I nod, “He is, and I the same. We promised to take care of one another many years ago.”

“Opacho will take care of him,” she says while opening her arms.

I feel as if she means him no harm, and Till doesn’t refuse as I carefully hand him over to her. She hugs him at the waist, the doll towering over her by just an inch. With my guardian ghost in tow, she takes my hand and begins to pull me in a certain direction.

“Opacho thinks team is this way,” she says.

I allow her to lead me without any refusal. It feels like hours before we stop to rest, buying lunch at a market stall and settling on an empty patch of grass away from the other participants. Opacho sits in my lap, chewing on a piece of curry bread while Till lays next to us, a somber look on his face. He seems to enjoy the company of Opacho, begging to be coddled by her.

I smile and lean my head back. The sky is the color of burnt orange. It suits the warm weather on this day. A tune comes to mind, and I quietly hum the words to myself. The song reminds me of my childhood, playing games in the theater as my parents set up for the next marionette show. Mom would sing while she worked, and sometimes dance. She taught me the words to the song I am humming, but never the dance steps.

I try to remember just how she moved, how she even looked, but all I can remember is the fire. The orange glow of its flames eating up everything it touched. It just spread until nothing but ash and bone were left. The memories fade from my mind just as Opacho leans up and places her hands against my face, giving me a gentle shake. Her eyes are wide, and face contorted in fear.

“Karline scared Opacho,” she says, voice trembling.

“I’m sorry,” I whisper.

I watch her crawl out of my lap and walk over to Till, taking him off the grass. She brings him to me with a smile.

“Till will protect Karline now,” she says.

I take him from her. His face remains somber.

“Can I ask you something, Opacho?”

She nods and sits on the grass in front of me.

“I noticed you don’t have a guardian spirit with you, but to wear an Oracle Pager must mean you’ve passed the qualification test,” I state. “What is your spirit ally?”

“Opacho calls it Mama, but Opacho doesn’t have to fight,” she explains.

She doesn’t have to fight, I repeat to myself. “I don’t understand.”

“Master will fight for Opacho and become Shaman King.”

I feel more confused than ever. There are so many thoughts running through my head, but I keep my mouth shut and force a smile onto my face.

“I take it your master is strong then?”

She nods, “Master is very strong.”

That’s a reassuring thought. My throat feels tight. It means I’ll eventually have to fight Opacho’s master if I want to win. I groan in annoyance. That’s when I feel it. My eyes open wide. It feels like pressure building in the pit of my stomach. I feel sick.

“There you are,” a voice says.

I lurch forward, jumping to my feet. The pressure doesn’t go away, but it loosens its hold on me. There’s a boy standing beside me. He’s got long brown hair and a skinny body hidden under a long white poncho. I feel like I’ve seen him before.

“Hello,” he says, smile on his face.

“Um… Guten Tag,” I reply quietly.

He must know Opacho, because she smiles happily and waddles over to him, standing by his side with her hand curled tightly in his. He looks to her, then back to me with the same beaming expression.

“I suppose I should thank you for watching over Opacho for me,” he says.

“It was no problem,” I admit shyly. “I was merely trying to help.”

I must admit, he doesn’t look half bad. His clothing is unique, a little unusual, but his eyes are charming. They watch me intently, analyzing me as Opacho did. He knits his brows in an expression of puzzlement and turns his head to the side. 

“You’re staring,” he points out.

“I don’t mean to stare,” I sputter, averting my eyes. How embarrassing this day has turned out to be. My face grows warm. “I just feel like I’ve seen you somewhere before.”

He chuckles, “I have one of those faces, I suppose.”

I doubt it, I think to myself. There’s no way this is a coincidence. However, I could have just mistaken him for someone else. It’s hard to say.

I smile and tuck my hair behind my ear. “How rude of me. I haven’t even told you my name. I’m Karline Roth.”

“Hao,” he responds dryly.

Talk about awkward. I frown and lick my lips. The inside of my mouth feels dry so suddenly, and the built up pressure in the pit of my stomach does nothing to put me at ease. Hao makes me feel so small under his gaze. I try to focus and act polite, but I can’t cope with his eyes on me like they are, picking apart my thoughts.

I barely notice Mariel jogging up to us, or that Heidi is sulking behind her, until they are both upon me.

“Didn’t you hear me calling you?”

I glance at her nervously, shaking my head. Why haven’t they noticed the pressure building around us? It feels so suffocating.

“The next event is about to begin,” Heidi says. Her eyes are on Hao, but she seems like she is unsure of what to say. It’s unlike her.

“We should go then,” I whisper.

Mariel steps forward, “I’m sorry to be rude, but we must really speak with Karline in private.”

“By all means,” Hao says politely. “Come Opacho, we’ll be on our way as well.”

He makes eye contact with me, then quickly turns and leaves with Opacho at his side. I can finally breathe. It feels like a weight has been lifted off my shoulders.

“That was weird,” Heidi mentions.

I agree, “Thank you two. I was drowning back there.”

“He’s kind of cute though,” Mariel laughs. “I hope we see him again, whatever his name was.”

“It was Hao,” I mention.

For our sake, I hope we never seen him again.

**Author's Note:**

> I hope you enjoyed. Please be patient on some of my other works. I've not given up on them, but I am rewriting a few things.


End file.
